Morgan Carpenter

Morgan Carpenter is an intersex activist and researcher^[1] who became president of Organisation Intersex International Australia in September 2013. Australia's Gay News Network included him in their "LGBTI people to watch in 2014".^[2]

Activism

Morgan Carpenter helped found Organisation Intersex International Australia^[3] and became president of the organisation in September 2013.^[3][4][5] His intersex status was diagnosed as an adult, with a complex surgical history.^[6][7]

Carpenter wrote OII Australia's submissions to Senate inquiries and appeared before a Senate hearing on anti-discrimination legislation, during activities that led to the adoption of an "intersex status" attribute in anti-discrimination law on 1 August 2013.^{[5][8][9][10]}

In submissions to a Senate committee inquiry on involuntary or coerced sterilisation, Carpenter called for "normalising" surgeries on intersex infants to end, saying that such interventions "erase" intersex from society.^[11] He criticised "psychosocial" rationales for surgery that include "reduced opportunities for marriage or intimate relationships" and reduced "capacity to earn an income", stigmatisation and "risk of social isolation".^{[6][12][13][14]}

While opposing use of "Disorders of Sex Development" or "DSD", as "pathologising" terminology,^[15] Carpenter is named as a reviewer for a DSD Genetics website funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia.^[16]

With recognition of non-binary gender identities in Australian regulations, and German birth certificates, Carpenter expressed concern that such developments are "not a solution to the needs of intersex infants": "normalising surgeries" remain the "most fundamental concern".^{[17][18][19][20]} "Many intersex people are men or women and it's crucial not to coerce them into a third option. It's also important to avoid using infants and children as the means to pursue rights and liberties for adults."^[2][21] Nevertheless, Carpenter is the recipient of a passport with an 'X' sex marker.^[19]

Works

Selected publications include:

• The Employers' Guide to Intersex Inclusion (2014). The guide provides information on diversity and inclusion policies and practices for employers, written in partnership between Organisation Intersex International Australia and Pride in Diversity.^[22] It was described as "an excellent resource for employers" by Australian employment law firm Justitia.^[23]

• "Australia can lead the way for intersex people" in The Guardian (2013), Carpenter reviewed Australian progress on legal recognition of intersex people.^[24]

• In "It's time to defend intersex rights" at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's The Drum (2013), Carpenter reviewed an Australian Senate committee report on medical interventions on intersex people, saying that it "changed the debate on the correct treatment of intersex differences"; the report stated that "the status quo is not acceptable". He concluded, "We should all feel good about what we've got, whatever our shape or size".^[25]

• In "'Intersex' ruling misses the bigger issue" at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's The Drum (2014), Carpenter, expressed concern at the "Norrie" case arguing that a third sex or gender classification should not be imposed on intersex people.^[25] The same issues were developed in a piece for the Star Observer entitled "Intersex explained and the issues that confront us".^[26]

• An article entitled "Why Intersex Awareness Day is important" (2014) expresses a need to tackle trauma, secrecy and stigmatization, and resourcing for intersex-led organisations.^[27]

• The book The employment of people with disabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (1998), written for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions reports on case studies on the employment of people with disabilities in six European countries.^[28]

Speeches include a presentation at the Wheeler Centre (Melbourne) on November 2014,^[29] the "first United Nations Human Rights Council side event on intersex issues" in March 2014, alongside Mauro Cabral and representatives of Intersex UK and Zwischengeschlecht,^[30] an "LGBTI Human Rights in the Commonwealth" conference in Glasgow, UK in July 2014,^[31][32] and a presentation on intersex health at the National LGBTI Health Alliance "Health in Difference" conference in 2013.^[6][13]

References

External links

• Official website
• Organisation Intersex International Australia